What is the difference between showing and telling?
BY Anna Freeman
29th Apr 2025
You’ve almost certainly heard ‘show don’t tell’ given as a rule. Perhaps you’ve heard it in a creative writing class or on a how-to writing website. It’s not bad advice, exactly – following ‘show don’t tell’ can be a hugely useful exercise, especially early on in our writing journeys.
It’s a great starting point when we’re learning how to bring the world of a story to life, and how to make characters breathe. But once you’re ready to try producing work intended for publication, thinking of it as a hard and fast rule is much less helpful.
What do we mean by show and tell?
Let’s clarify what we actually mean by ‘show’ and ‘tell.' The simplest way to think of it is like this:
- Showing communicates a fact or feeling to the reader without explicitly naming it. It’s usually achieved through dialogue and action, playing out (or dramatised) in the moment.
- Telling just says what it means, often through passages of exposition and description.
When to show and when to tell
It isn’t helpful to think of ‘show don’t tell’ as a rule once you really embark on your writing journey. But what really can be helpful is to understand the effect and purpose of each, so that you can find your own balance.
The following are questions you might ask yourself, to help you decide:
- Is this worth showing?
I absolutely promise you that not everything is! Sometimes it’s better to just tell your reader something, so that we can get to the next important plot point. - Does this have emotional weight?
If something really matters to your character, or might be felt deeply by your reader, consider showing it. - What role does this play in my story?
What if this particular moment isn’t the emotional heart of the chapter? What if it does matter, but as context, rather than action? - What does my reader need to know?
Sometimes we can smuggle lots of information across to the reader through showing. It’s also a completely valid choice just to explain something that the reader needs to know. When to do this totally depends on the book and on the book’s audience. - What does my reader need to focus on?
As always, there’s no definitive right or wrong, but it’s worth considering where the power of the scene lies. - What kind of book is this anyway?
Another way to think of this might be, What did my reader come here for? If they were going to write a rave review, what would they lead with? Twisting plot? Developed characters? What are the main joys of reading your book? This will have an impact on the balance of how much you show and how much you tell your story.
Want to learn more about how to show and tell in compelling fiction? Join our four-week online Showing & Telling – The Deep Dive course with teaching videos, notes and exercises from Anna Freeman. You'll discover powerful narrative techniques, examples of effective uses of showing and telling, and practical writing tasks that will bring your story to life.